Aspiration or expiration: hypoxia and the interpretation of fish predation in the fossil record
Journal Contribution ResearchOnline@JCUAbstract
[Extract] Accurate interpretation of fossils of one organism inside another is essential for understanding predator-prey relationships, food-web structure, and energy flows in ancient ecosystems. Fossils of a fish inside the mouth or stomach of another fish are thought to represent examples of normal predation in such ecosystems (Viohl 1990; Maisey 1994; McAllister 2003; Ebert et al. 2015). Further, so-called “aspiration” fossils of a relatively large fish partly inserted headfirst into the mouth of another fish (Fig. 1A) often are considered to be the result of ingestion of over-sized normal prey leading to the death of the predator (Grande 1984, 2013; Viohl 1990; McAllister 2003; Ebert et al. 2015), which is known to happen with modern predatory fishes (e.g., Viohl 1990). However, there are other plausible explanations for some such fish fossils.
Journal
Palaios
Publication Name
N/A
Volume
34
ISBN/ISSN
1938-5323
Edition
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Issue
5
Pages Count
3
Location
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Publisher
Society for Sedimentary Geology
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Publish Date
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Date
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EISSN
N/A
DOI
10.2110/palo.2019.027